Sons and Daughters by Brady Boyd

I am indebted to Pastor Brady Boyd for a complimentary copy of the book, "Sons & Daughters" published by Zondervan 2012. It was an honor to read the book and also a privilege to highly recommend the book to others.

The book is presented in three parts. Part 1 is called The Path to Sonship; Part 2 called Living Well-Loved; and Part 3 entitled Carriers of Grace. I will have to admit that Part 1 really spoke to me. It seemed that on just about every page something touched my heart. I think it is beneficial that this book is written in short, almost essay-type readings so I could stop after each chapter, think about how it applied to me and allow the embedded truth to sink in.

I'm like so many others who will read this book - I get stuck in a slave mentality always looking for something to do in order to prove my worth or better myself within the Kingdom. It's difficult to just relax and enjoy being a son.  Most of us, even if we came out of the traditional two-parent family, grew up as spiritual orphans. Not only did we need a Savior but we needed a Spiritual Father. Too often we don't give God the opportunity to father us because we are too busy trying to please Him or earn His approval. It's a tough, never ending battle for some of us.

Allowing the truth of who we are in Christ to become real and set us free from the slave mentality is difficult. Some days are good but other days the lies of the enemy come through loud and clear.

I would have to say the third part of the book -  "Carriers of Grace" - dealt more with what happens when we treat others out of our orphan spirit. We become critical; we become thoughtless in our relationships; and we allow our attitudes to become less than "blessable."

I loved Pastor Brady's insights into how the orphan spirit affects marriage, our relationships with our kids and our relationship with those we work with and those we minister to. I would have to say that we have a mandate from God to walk in the spirit of sonship that is offered to us and to allow God to be our Father and to accept the fact that He is crazy about us.

The book is full of personal stories from Pastor Brady; both his successes and what may be perceived as failures. I would rather think of them as teachable moments because God extends His grace to us in those moments to remind us, not only of His love for us, but His love for those He places in our lives. Extending grace to others can only come about as we receive God's grace and walk in relationship with Him.